Richard Thomas Walsh
Richard Thomas Walsh went to be with Jesus September 4th 2017.
Born 4/27/1935 at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tacoma to Agnes Marie Walsh and James Edward Walsh (theirs was a true love story). Richard’s dad was killed in an accident when he was 3 years old so he was raised by his mom and his grandparents Wilhemina (Boettcher) and Andrew Fyfe in Alder Washington.
Upon graduating from Stadium High school, he went with his buddies, who ended up being friends for a life time, to check out the University of Washington. He decided to sign up and graduated with an Electrical Engineering degree in 1959.
While attending the University he also regularly attended Calvin Club at University Presbyterian Church. It was at Calvin Club that he met the love of his life Lois Van Camp. They were married on August 30th 1958.
After graduation there were job offers around the country, he chose to work for what was then Garrett AiResearch. He worked for them his entire career. He always felt blessed to have ended up in a career where he enjoyed going to work every day. Given opportunities to move from Seattle to further his career he always chose to stay in Washington. He retired from what had become Honeywell in 1995.
Richard and Lois first lived in Seattle, it was there in 1960 that their only daughter Sheri Lee was born. Richard and Sheri shared many adventures, completed wonderful projects and continued to figure out problems until the very end.
The family moved to the new suburb of Bellevue in 1962. In 1980 his life was altered by a very rare disease, granulates vasculitis of the central nervous system. He spent many months in Virginia Mason hospital trying to diagnose the illness, finally a biopsy was sent to the National Institutes of Health were Dr. Anthony Foucci came up with a treatment plan and published a paper on the disease. Richard was the only subject in the paper to survive.
In 1994 Richard and Lois purchased acreage in Winthrop and built their dream home. Richard loved the project of building and engineering the home. Time spent above the clouds looking at the mountains and valley below was special to the whole family. The home was sold in 2007 and Richard and Lois moved to Kenmore to be close to their daughter and her family.
Richard was a wonderful husband, father and grandfather; genuine, kindhearted and giving. He left a positive imprint on many lives and will be greatly missed by his family. We look forward to joining him in Heaven someday.
The Family would like to thank all of the doctors, nurses, aides and techs that helped diagnose and take care of him over the years, there were many wonderful and outstanding people by his side.
Richard is survived by wife Lois, daughter Sheri, son-in law Davie, granddaughters Michaela and Sylvia, brother James, sister-in Law Janet and aunt Mildred. He was preceded in death by his parents James and Agnes.
Richard loved Winston Churchill, “Make no small plans for they have no magic to stir the hearts of men”
A Memorial service with reception to follow will be held:
Saturday, September 30, 2017 at 1:00
Westminster Chapel, Bellevue
Donations can be made to cancer research or the charity of your choice.